Benevolence was in the air as students gathered over doughnuts and apple juice to begin the first University of Wisconsin Gandhi Day of Service.

The culmination of efforts by the Students’ Action for Indian Volunteerism and Aid group and other campus organizations led to the Gandhi Day of Service. The event drew over 70 volunteering students at seven different locations around the city last Saturday.

Students met in library mall to receive free T-shirts, breakfast, and their assignments to various community organizations in Madison. Some raked leaves for Habitat for Humanity, while others played with kids at the Boys and Girls Club, extended a hand at the Ronald McDonald House or helped paint pumpkins to be delivered to a hospital.

“It’s good every once in a while to take time out and serve the community,” said participant and UW sophomore Charles Webster. “Like Gandhi [did], it’s good to serve others,” he continued.

John Dunne, a UW professor of languages and cultures of Southeast Asia, motivated participants with a short speech on the purpose of the day and a message about Gandhi. Dunne said the Indian national leader inspired Martin Luther King, and has been “a leading light for the Dalai Lama.”

Dunne emphasized service as a necessary activity, saying, “to perform service is to honor [other people].”

Organizers noted this event was one of the first times different campus organizations had united for a common cause. SAIVA co-chair Rajit Chakravarty said the group’s two goals for the day were to raise awareness for community service and also to “collaborate with other groups on campus, because we feel people don’t do that enough.”

Ten different campus organizations joined SAIVA in sponsoring and sending participants to the event, including the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Promoting Racial and Ethnic Awareness, and UW medical students.

SAIVA was branching out of its original roots with the Gandhi Day of Service. The group started just last year as “a vision of service … directed towards developing countries in Southeast Asia,” said former UW student and co-founder Vinai Gondi.

That vision grew to include the whole campus and surrounding community, said Gondi, beginning with the groups’ visits to local elementary schools and finally culminating in this Saturday’s event.

The Gandhi Day of Service is a national event, started by the Indian American Student Association at the University of Michigan in 1998. The day drew just 200 participants its first time around, but by 1999 the event topped 500 volunteers from 40 different universities and organizations. It was Gandhi’s legacy that afforded this success, the man Chakavarty called the “perfect icon” for the event.

“[Gandhi] was a very influential national figure that promoted selflessness and the act of benevolence towards ones’ community members,” he said.

Though a number of participants said they were inspired by Gandhi, many found other reasons to justify their rising early Saturday morning to join the event.

According to UW junior Bethany Stevens, the event was “an easy way to get involved and meet other people.”

UW sophomore Nada Sundlass agreed, saying “[the event] brought to mind what giving was all about.”

Organizers felt the day was a success. “The turnout was the best,” said SAIVA co-chair Luxme Hariharam. Chakravarty agreed, saying the energy, accomplishments and the friendliness displayed between the members of the various groups made the event “really rewarding.”

Participants also found the event invigorating.

“The day served to motivate others not to serve for one, but to serve for the future,” said UW senior Shannon Straszewski.